New judges, lighter sentences, multi-million payouts: What will happen after the bombshell in the Vincenz case?

Aslantaş, which served as legal advisor to Julius Baer, ​​now represents Wüst’s heir. Perhaps the most painful defeat for prosecutor Marc Jean-Richard-dit-Bressel was the less sophisticated lawyer from Frauenfeld. Because on Tuesday the Zurich Supreme Court ripped up Jean-Richard-dit-Bressel’s accusation as being too “absurd” and vague. This is exactly what Aslantaş criticized in the courtroom two years ago.

The case was reviewed by external experts

Aslantaş says, “In making its decision, the Supreme Court relied on some of my arguments in my defense at the main hearing in the Zurich District Court.” “I had not filed a new application,” he adds. On Tuesday evening, the prosecutor’s office announced that it would not accept this disgrace and would take the case to the Federal Court. As the prosecution confirmed, Jean-Richard-dit-Bressel’s accusations had previously been examined by external experts to be on the safe side. It was of no use.

However, no celebration noises can be heard from either Aslantaş or the other defenders. “The Supreme Court’s decision is not a big victory for us,” the lawyer says. “The process may now take several more years and assets will continue to be blocked if this decision is implemented.”

Unless the Federal Court overturns the high court’s decision, Tuesday’s decision will have consequences for future proceedings. Given the length of the trials, the main defendant Pierin Vincenz and his business partner Beat Stocker are likely to hope for a lighter sentence. “The requirement for acceleration means that defendants can expect lighter sentences due to delays,” Freiburg criminal law professor Marcel Niggli explains in an interview.

Will the prosecutor’s office drop the fraud charge?

The expert also predicts that the prosecution will now adapt its strategy. And drops the fraud charge. While explaining the reasons for the decision, which was largely based on rejected accusations, Niggli criticized the fact that the fraud accusation was not proven. “Fraud does not occur because someone lied or something was concealed (in Vincenz’s specific case, investments),” Niggli argues.

To be convicted of fraud, clear conditions must be met: Someone fraudulently deceives another person, the victim makes a mistake as a result of this deception, the transfer of assets as a result of this mistake, which causes damage. to the victim.

Concealing assets is not enough for the crime of fraud. “It’s just like a tax return,” Niggli says. «If you don’t specify anything there, it’s not fraud. But if you lie when asked by the tax commissioner, it could be fraud.” In other words, Raiffeisen and Aduno’s boards should have asked whether there would be a conflict of interest in the planned acquisitions.

Lawyer Aslantaş is more skeptical on this issue: “I do not expect the public prosecutor’s office to drop the fraud charge against the main defendants in the new indictment,” he says, adding: “They were partially successful in this before the first instance court.”

New judges for the next hearing

However, other judges will decide on new charges. Sebastian Aeppli, the presiding judge of the first criminal trial at the Zurich District Court, has retired. Second judge Rok Bezgovsek currently works as a criminal judge in the second chamber of the Supreme Court. Peter Rietmann is on the original jury panel that gave the verdict two years ago.

Because the district court followed the prosecution’s case so closely two years ago, the defendants’ attorneys will likely pressure any judge at the original trial not to reconsider the case to avoid any appearance of bias.

Despite the bankruptcy in the high court, no one involved expects prosecutor Jean-Richard-dit-Bressel will have to abandon the case. He knows the complex case down to its final consequences. If a new prosecutor is to formulate the necessary new charges, he or she will first need to become familiar with the multitude of documents related to the evidence, which, when pressed, include nearly 30,000 federal files.

This will further delay the process. And the defendants had nothing to do with it either. For financial reasons only. Because behind the criminal trial lies the issue of compensation. And that’s about double-digit millions. This continues to increase at a tremendous rate of 5 percent per year.

Damage compensation is becoming more expensive every year

The district court basically upheld the claim for damages in the corporate transactions of Commtrain, Investnet and GCL. In fact, in the Commtrain case, the court clearly stated: Accordingly, Vincenz and Stocker must pay Aduno 2.66 million francs in damages – plus interest – since 2008. This is over 6 million francs for this case alone.

In the investment transactions in the companies Investnet and GCL, the district court had resorted to civil litigation to clarify the claims for compensation. The prosecution estimated the amount of damage along with the profits from investment transactions. When calculated this way, the largest amount is the Investnet agreement in 2011. From this Stocker was entitled to approximately 33 million francs; This corresponds to damage for the prosecutor’s office. If the civil court follows the opinion of the prosecutor’s office, there is a risk of purely arithmetic compensation of over 60 million francs with 5 percent interest. It is unlikely that frozen assets will be sufficient to meet these demands. Additionally, all defendants are jointly and severally liable.

It looks like Pierin Vincenz already has money problems. He had borrowed money from, among others, Stadler Rail’s major shareholder Peter Spuhler, but according to “Sonntagszeitung” Vincenz stopped paying interest for a while. Vincenz wants to sell his villa in Morcote to pay off his debts. According to the report, the high court issued a mandatory enforcement decision to ensure transparency in the sales process.

Vincenz will now receive legal compensation in the amount of 34,698 francs. This will do little to alleviate his financial problems. And whether Vincenz will make a legally binding decision in his lifetime is now anyone’s guess.